As occasionally happens, I wondered into the Huddle Mart due to a hunger that convinced me that Huddle Mart's relatively close location made it the ideal candidate for me to purchase some munchies. I headed directly to the Clif bars, a source of quick sustenance I use to rely on to get me through time crunches. To my angst, Clif bars are priced at $2.09 rather than $0.99 as I was used to. This made an article that was published in The Observer sometime within the last year ("Huddle Mart unable to compete with retailers," Oct. 13) pop into my mind.
The article argued that the Huddle Mart's prices were comparable to other convenience stores and displayed a list of about 20 assorted items compared to average store prices. I figured maybe the price of Cliff bars had increased since I had last purchased them and continued my search. The next item that caught my eye was a seven-ounce bag of chips, and then its price. The Huddle Mart wants $3.29 for a bag of chips the size you might pay $1.29 for or maybe $1.59 if you found it in an over-priced convenience store. I did not recognize the brand so I figured this may be an expensive brand and moved on.
Silk Vanilla soymilk caught my eye because I regularly purchase the half gallon size for $2.99 and I wanted to confirm the story that Huddle Mart's prices were reasonable. This was a quarter gallon; factoring in for the convenient size I guessed $2 would be the maximum reasonable price. The Huddle Mart price is $3.29. Why would I pay more for a quarter gallon at the Huddle Mart than I would pay for a half gallon somewhere else?
To polish off my disdain of Huddle Mart prices, and convince myself not to waste time hunting for munchies there again, I priced Clif bars on the Clif bar Web site, usually on par with store prices. The current price is $1.25 per bar. So Huddle Mart priced 20 items close to the average store price, but what about the rest of their selection? Why so overpriced?
Dave Schmidt
graduate student
off campus
Jan. 20
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
